Invited Presentation
TDRSS and the beginning of Space VLBI
Presenter: David Jauncey (CSIRO Astronomy & Space Science, and Research School of Astronomy & Astrophysics, ANU)
I will discuss the first successful Space VLBI observations which were undertaken in July and August 1986 at 2.3 GHz using the TDRSE satellite of the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System, TDRSS. This series of observations continued through 1989 at both 2.3 and 15 GHz, on baselines of up to 1.63 Earth diameters, yielding brightness temperatures of up to 2.5 x 10^12 K. These TDRSS observations led directly to the later dedicated SVLBI missions VSOP and RadioAstron.